Unapproachable East.pdf - The Forgotten Realms
Unapproachable East.pdf - The Forgotten Realms
Unapproachable East.pdf - The Forgotten Realms
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claim his portion against the interest of those who supported<br />
the idea from the beginning.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Priador extends along Thay’s southern coast, from the<br />
River Lapendrar all the way east to the River Thazarim. Its<br />
northern boundary is the Lapendrar and the First Escarpment.<br />
Along with the Alaor and Surthay in the distant north,<br />
the Priador is not actually part of the Plateau of Thay. Besides<br />
Bezantur, the tharch holds two other major settlements. Thasselen<br />
lies on the shore seventy miles west of Bezantur. Another<br />
hundred miles or so farther in that direction squats the<br />
port city of Murbant. Both of these ports are closer to the Sea<br />
of Fallen Stars—and therefore the bulk of Faerûn—than<br />
Bezantur, but they are poor sisters to the tharch’s capital.<br />
Bezantur is one of the largest and wealthiest cities in eastern<br />
Faerûn, and its port is thronged with the ships of a dozen<br />
lands at all times.<br />
<strong>The</strong> High Road, one of the nation’s two major roads, starts<br />
in Bezantur. From there, it climbs the First Escarpment,<br />
passes through Tyraturos, and ends in Eltabbar. Some of the<br />
locals call this road the Slave Way, for large numbers of slaves<br />
are driven north along it to the markets of Eltabbar.<br />
Unlike most of Thay, much of the Priador is still wild. In<br />
fact, a number of preserves throughout the region permit<br />
monsters to roam freely. <strong>The</strong>se creatures are kept on hand for<br />
use in the Red Wizards’ unethical experiments. Travelers accosted<br />
by the creatures are allowed to defend themselves, but<br />
more than one monster-slayer has discovered that damaging<br />
a zulkir’s property brings more pain than claws and teeth.<br />
Pyarados<br />
<strong>The</strong> tharch of Pyarados runs between the eastern edge of Lake<br />
Thaylambar and the Sunrise Mountains, right to the lower<br />
portion of the River Thazarim and the southern edge of the<br />
First Escarpment. <strong>The</strong> tharch doesn’t quite reach the High<br />
Road to the west, which is part of Tyraturos. <strong>The</strong> ruler of this<br />
tharch is Nymia Focar (CE female human Ftr9). Pyrados<br />
hasn’t benefited directly from the influx of wealth brought<br />
about by the zulkirs’ new trade policy, but Focar has been<br />
savvy enough to make herself rich through her own initiatives.<br />
She is more forgiving of the presence of foreign adventurers<br />
than most of her peers, granting them free rein to<br />
explore those portions of the Sunrise Mountains that lie<br />
within her tharch. <strong>The</strong> only catch is that the shops in Pyarados<br />
charge foreigners triple the normal prices and pass the<br />
bulk of the profits back to the tharchion.<br />
In addition to monster dens and old ruins, this part of the<br />
Sunrise Mountains harbors all sorts of mineral wealth. Focar<br />
can’t be bothered with owning or operating mines herself, so<br />
she charges a stiff tax on those who do. Any who try to cheat<br />
her or refuse to pay find their claims sold out from under<br />
them to people more willing to go along with Focar’s demands.<br />
<strong>The</strong>re is only one major city here—Pyarados, after which<br />
the tharch is named. Situated on the west bank of the River<br />
Thazarim, this is where the <strong>East</strong>ern Way ends, just shy of the<br />
Surague Escarpment. Two well-worn tracks lead out of city.<br />
One follows the edges of the Surague Escarpment and the edge<br />
THAY<br />
155<br />
of Lake Thaylambar up to the city of Eltabbar. <strong>The</strong> other is<br />
on the east side of the River Thazarim, and it leads south<br />
through the tharch of Thazalhar into Mulhorand, eventually<br />
winding up in either Sultim or Rauthil, depending on which<br />
fork one follows.<br />
THE PASS OF THAZAR<br />
A short distance north and east of the city of Pyarados is the<br />
Pass of Thazar, one of only two ways (Daggertooth Pass is the<br />
other) across the Sunrise Mountains into Thay. <strong>The</strong> pass<br />
climbs along the vale of the Thazarim River. At the top of<br />
the valley, a difficult road of switchbacks and precipitous<br />
drops snakes under the crest of the mountains for about ten<br />
miles before dropping into the upper vale of the Copper River,<br />
a tributary of the Clearflow. A great stone wall raised centuries<br />
ago guards the top of the pass.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Thazar is lower and easier than the Daggertooth, but<br />
it is not as strategically important. Most travelers to Mulhorand<br />
or Murghôm simply take the road south from Pyarados<br />
to Rauthil. In the ancient wars against Mulhorand, the<br />
Pass of Thazar was much more important, as it offered an<br />
eastern approach to Thay, but little of consequence has happened<br />
here in a long time.<br />
SURAGUE ESCARPMENT<br />
Like the First and Second Escarpments, the Surague is a long<br />
line of steeply layered precipices climbing from the Plateau of<br />
Thay toward the Sunrise Mountains. It is much more broken<br />
and rugged than the other escarpments, sometimes vanishing<br />
entirely for dozens of miles before reappearing. Most of the<br />
Surague (the land above the escarpment) is at an elevation of<br />
about 6,000 to 7,000 feet and quickly merges with the steep<br />
foothills and sheer peaks of the Sunrise range.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Thayans maintain few watchposts or fortresses along<br />
this frontier, since the Sunrises are virtually impassable to any<br />
but skilled mountaineers who know where they’re going. Slaves<br />
hoping to escape into the mountains usually meet a quick end<br />
from the arduous conditions or the hungry monsters that<br />
plague the high vales. A few ragged bands of escaped slaves eke<br />
out a hardscrabble existence in the lower slopes, fleeing the approach<br />
of Thayan forces and raiding down onto the plateau<br />
when they dare. From time to time Thayan nobles organize<br />
expeditions to hunt these wretches for sport.<br />
Sunrise Mountains<br />
<strong>The</strong> Sunrise Mountains, which many consider to mark the<br />
eastern end of Faerûn proper, run all the way from the<br />
center of Rashemen to just past the southeastern border of<br />
Thay. <strong>The</strong>y form the entirety of Thay’s eastern border, towering<br />
almost 15,000 feet above sea level. To get to the Thayan<br />
portion of the Sunrise Mountains, a traveler must first tackle<br />
the Surague Escarpment. Few find even this to be worthwhile,<br />
as the Sunrises themselves are virtually impassable to